


Best Luck

by Ayfe



Series: Heaven [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, K.A.R.D. cameos, M/M, Romance, because i can't write anything else, it's not a sad story, it's rather cliché, mentioned chanbaek, not at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 20:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16562690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayfe/pseuds/Ayfe
Summary: You are my luckI can't avoid itEvery day I'm so luckyI want to confess my hidden heartI love youMinseok was reading the neatly written lines on the paper again and again. He couldn't believe it. Never before was he so devastated by the fact that the sweet words weren't written for him, but for his best friend. But at the same time he couldn't stop himself from falling deeper in love.





	Best Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Firstly, I want to say that I've got no idea what this is. The plot is a pure improvisation, the only thing I prepared are the lyrics. As a person who unfortunately don't speak Korean, I feel like I don't enough appreciate the beautiful lyrics of many kpop songs. So yeah, that's how this piece was created.  
> Secondly, this is kind of a sequel to my previous story but I think that you don't have to read it to understand.  
> Thirdly, I want to thank my Beta again. Thank you so much, you're amazing.  
> Lastly, I want to dedicate this story to Anna.
> 
> Ani,  
> ten příběh je sice celkem kravina, ale hej je to Xiuchen a Hunhan, takže je to kravina ale s cute shipy. Upřímně řečeno jsem tuhle fanfikci začala psát ještě předtím než jsme odešly, ale napadlo mě, že místo toho abych o ní něco říkala, tak to bude takové malé překvapení (?). Doufám, že se ti bude aspoň trochu líbit, i když jak už jsem řekla je to celkem kravina. Nechci se moc rezepisovat, tak už jen napíšu, že mi moc chybíš a že tě mám moc ráda. (Ježiš, už začínám být nějaká moc sentimentální...)
> 
> P.S. Prohrála jsem

Jongdae sang the last lines of a ballad song. He opened his eyes which were closed during his performance; he gratefully bowed to the clapping people and sincerely thanked everyone who decided to leave some money in his guitar case. Occasionally he talked with the people, asking how they are doing or chatting about the sunny weather. 

It was a warm summer day just before a noon; the town plaza was busy and full of people as usual and Jongdae decided to sing a few songs before he had to leave to work.

He took a gulp of water before grabbing his guitar again and starting another song. This time he kept his eyes opened scanning his surroundings. It was almost noon and Jongdae knew that it was the time when he usually comes. _There he is,_ thought Jongdae happily when he noticed a man walking across the plaza in his direction. The singer’s cat-like lips turned to a smile before they had to sing another line of the song.

_You are my luck_

_I can’t avoid it_

_Every day I’m so lucky_

_I want to confess my hidden heart_

_I love[you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7p9v-xtm4)_

The man stopped in front of him, smiling until the very end of Jongdae’s performance. The singer put his guitar down thanking the people once again before giving his attention to the smiling man.

The man in front of him had curly black hair and a round young-looking face. When they first met, Jongdae thought that the man was much younger than him but soon he learnt that it's not the case, the man was actually older. Because of the shape the man’s eyes, they reminded Jongdae of a cat’s. They were almost the same height and although the man’s body might have looked petty it was actually hiding strong muscles. The man was a quiet and rather calm person but Jongdae didn’t mind, he was loud enough for both of them.

 

“Hello, Chen.” The man greeted him friendly. He waved his right hand lightly, his left hand hidden behind his back.

“Hello to you too, Xiumin.”

 

Jongdae had met Xiumin for the first time at the beginning of a spring, when trees in the plaza had barely bloomed yet and the last breaths of winter could be still felt in the air. He had seen the baker many times before, that was quite normal in this small town but until that spring he hadn’t spoken with him. He wasn’t sure why but that day, when the man stopped to listen to the song which he had written, he just did.

They weren’t friends, though.

He didn’t even know the man’s real name and vice versa. That’s because Jongdae had introduced himself with a stage name he almost never used and when Minseok had been introducing himself he was mumbling quietly, so Jongdae didn’t hear him clearly. The singer was too shy to ask Minseok to repeat it, so he just guessed. Well, kind of, he was sure there was _min_ somewhere in the name but the rest was a pure guess.

The older had chuckled deeply, unable to understand how Jongdae made ‘Xiumin’ from his name, but he actually liked it. Until now they were still calling each other Chen and Xiumin, it was their thing. Something like an inside joke, something that they shared between just the two of them.

 

“My today’s request is _Promise._ ” said Minseok.

Jongdae smiled but shook his head. “No food, no song.” he stated.

Since they had met, they had this unwritten rule – food in exchange of song. Usually it was Minseok who brought food and Jongdae who sang a song in return but the singer made Minseok sing few times, too. He discovered that the baker has surprisingly sweet voice and despite being very insecure about it, Jongdae thought that Minseok’s singing was truly beautiful.

Minseok smiled with his gummy smile and pulled his left hand from behind his back. There was a pack with delicious pastries in it. “But I have food.”

Jongdae took the pack from his hand and opened it to take a look at the food in it. “ _Hodugwaja!_ Thank you so much, Xiumin. These are the best.” He immediately stuffed some pieces of the pastry in his mouth and chewed it happily while Minseok watched him amused.

“So, what about my request?” Minseok asked the singer trying not to laugh loudly.

“Your wish is my command, sir.”

He however laughed loudly when Jongdae tried to comically salute but used a wrong hand and then tried to quickly switch it to a right one.

Jongdae turned around putting the tasty food aside and grabbing his guitar instead. He touched the strings and first tones of the song resonated through the plaza. First words of the song escaped Jongdae’s lips as he looked up from the guitar strings to the man standing in front of him.

_Sometimes, I close the door and fall into my thoughts_

_Thinking about myself on stage_

_You even liked my clumsy moments_

_But I wonder if I ever deserve that love_

_You always waited for me at that spot_

_You embraced me with your arms, so thankful to[you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1zC-lm_DHA)_

Jongdae was always an honest person. He was never good at fooling someone, moreover himself and that’s why he had to admit that he had a tiny crush on the man standing in front of him. He’s not in denial or something; it was really just a tiny crush and not some big tragic and unrequited love. It’s not like he was desperately longing for the other, feeling dull when he’s not around and writing some deep poems which would confess his undying love for Xiumin.

Jongdae just liked his presence, feeling comfortably with him and enjoying their daily conversations. He always looked forward to his visits and his food and sometimes he caught himself daydreaming about the young-looking baker and his lips turned to a small smile.

The singer sang last lines of _Promise_ and Minseok enthusiastically clapped. He admired Chen’s singing so much. Not just how the impossible high notes were almost effortlessly leaving his throat but also how he was able to show the message of the song.

Later the baker had to go back, his lunch break was almost over and so he had to go join Luhan in their bakery again. He bid a goodbye to Chen and went to the direction of the bakery. Just when he was about to leave the plaza he turned back and waved at the singer happily.

 

Minseok was walking through the town streets. Because of the warm weather there were a lot of people outside. This year’s winter was truly cold and people were glad when the winter finally turned to warm spring and an even warmer summer.

The baker turned to a street where his and Luhan’s bakery was situated. He passed by an art shop waving to Sehun who was just leaving to the train station.

His sight fell on the mural on the front wall. It was still an unusual sight even after all those months. There was just one angel painted on the left side of the shop door. A lot of rumors floated around the town about the missing angel. Some of them were unbelievable made by the people with wildest imagination and some were realistic made by people who tried to find some reasonable explanation, but in the end, nobody really knew what happened to the other angel.

Minseok and Luhan had their own theory; that night they had seen the angel flew away. They hadn’t told it to anyone, why would they even do it? Nobody would believe them anyway.

 

He continued walking down the street until he got to the bakery; _Exodus_ read the sign above the bakery door. He entered making a bell behind the door ring and then he continued to the back around the counter and Luhan who was just greeting another customer in the line. Minseok refilled the display with desserts and helped Luhan with getting the orders for customers before having a short rest when the bakery emptied for a while.

“So…” Luhan started with a knowing look sent towards Minseok. The baker turned to look confusedly at his best friend. “What?”

“Don’t think that I haven’t noticed.” said Luhan with a teasing tone.

“Noticed what?” Minseok didn’t like where this is going. He didn’t like it at all.

Luhan smirked. “You, smiling like a fool again.”

Minseok inwardly sighed. He was right; he didn’t like it at all. He rolled his eyes at Luhan before focusing on the cake in front of him which needed to be decorated. He couldn’t rest for a long time because he still had orders which needed to be done. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t smiling like a fool.”

“You totally were.” Luhan pointed at him with a whisk in his hand but he drew his hand quickly back when drops of unfinished dough started to fall on the clean kitchen counter. “So, who is she?”

Minseok looked at him surprised. “W-what?”

Luhan chuckled upon seeing his hyung flustered. “Who is the woman who made you smile like a fool again?” he specified.

“There is none.” the older shrugged.

Luhan looked at him suspiciously, not trusting his words. Nevertheless, it was true - there was no woman, just a charming singer.

“Do you realize that sooner or later I’ll find out who she is.” said the younger baker while mixing the dough in a bowl.

“Whatever, Luhan. Just finish the cake for Kim Matthew.”

 

 

 

Jongdae ran as fast as he could, the guitar case bouncing on his back. He flew through the station building successfully not bumping into anyone. He continued with the same fast tempo to the platform and finally getting on the train just a few moments before it started to move. He stood for a while trying to catch his breath. _I should exercise more,_ he thought bitterly when he couldn’t catch his breath even after a few minutes.

But it was his own fault. Earlier he had finished his performance getting ready to leave the plaza to catch the train in time but then a young man approached him. He shyly introduced himself as Taehyung and begged him to sing a song for his best friend Jiwoo who was apparently a little bit depressed for a reason unknown to the singer. And Jongdae is just too soft to reject the young man, so that’s how he ended up being late and almost missing the train.

He walked further inside the train trying to find some empty seat, but there was none so far. Well, actually there was but people were just rude and left their bags and other things on them preventing anyone else from sitting there.

“Hyung!” he heard a familiar voice from somewhere ahead of him. “Come here.” The person motioned for him to sit down on the seat opposite him.

“Hey, Sehun.” Jongdae smiled at his younger friend while he sat on the seat. “Going to university?”

Sehun chuckled as he shook his head. “Hyung, it’s summer.”

“Ah! You’re right.” Jongdae smiled embarrassed. He was so used to meeting Sehun in the train going to university during the year, that he completely forgot that it’s summer now.

“I have a meeting with the members of my dance group.” Sehun explained. “Well, not with everyone, just with Kai and Tao. I haven’t seen them since the end of a semester.”

They continued with their comfortable conversation, the countryside behind a window glass was quickly passing by. They talked about everything what they had missed in the days they hadn’t seen each other. Jongdae was just telling Sehun about the song lyrics he’s currently writing when he was interrupted by the younger one.

“That’s right, you can write beautiful lyrics.” Sehun said pensively rather to himself, looking out of the window instead of Jongdae. He then looked back at him with a strange look in his eyes. “Could you help me with something?” he asked hopefully.

Jongdae became a little bit nervous, he was not used to seeing Sehun like this, and nonetheless he nodded, waiting for the other to continue.

“Could you write some lyrics for me?”

The singer frowned, confused. “Lyrics for you? What do you mean?”

Sehun hadn’t noticed the singer’s frown and so he didn’t realize that the other is questioning his strange request. “I mean something like a love lyric.”

Jongdae froze, his eyes widening at the young man sitting opposite him. “Sehun, I- “

“No!” he was quickly interrupted by Sehun’s panicked voice. “That’s not what I meant. No, no, no. It’s nothing like that.” He was frantically gesturing with his hands to emphasize his words but when he saw that Jongdae understood, he dropped them continuing in a much calmer voice.

“The other week I’ve talked with Luhan. He came by to ask me how I’m doing. Could you believe it? He’s so kind; he said that he just wanted to be with me for a while. Moreover, he looked really good that day. I mean he always looks perfect but that day he had- ah! Yeah that’s not the point, sorry.” Sehun said when he noticed the singer’s slightly annoyed face. “So, we’ve talked and he said that he really likes music. He has many favorite songs but he especially likes songs with meaningful and beautiful lyrics. And so, I thought that I’ll write him some to-to…you know to show him how much I like him. But everything I’ve written so far is a crap. I just can’t write to save a life and so I hope that maybe you can help me a little bit and write something for him instead of me.”

“I don’t know, Sehun.” Jongdae said hesitantly looking at his friend doubtfully. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

But that certainly wasn’t enough to stop Sehun, he bent closer to Jongdae and showed his best puppy eyes, but it just didn’t work. Despite being the youngest, being cute just didn’t match Sehun at all. “Stop doing whatever you’re doing.” warned him Jongdae, before he pushed him further from himself.

“Please.” Sehun pleaded; the older one was just looking at him hopelessly. “But Sehun, Luhan will eventually find out that you’re not the one who wrote the lyrics and what will you do then? Don’t you think that he’ll be angry that you were lying to him? I don’t like this idea at all; it will end up by someone getting hurt.”

Nevertheless, the younger was still not ready to give up. “Please, hyung. I’ll owe you one. Please, pretty please.” he whined like a boy who is begging his mother for some candy.

Jongdae sighed shaking his head upon Sehun. “You’re a helpless case, Sehun…. Fine, I’ll do it, but just because it’s you. And so you know, you’ll own me not just one- “He lifted his hand showing an index finger up. “But two big favors.” He lifted another finger looking with a pointed look at Sehun. “And if I want to I can tell the truth to anyone anytime. Is that clear?”

Sehun nodded trying not to smile too widely. Jongdae was really the kindest hyung. If he had asked Junmyeon or Chanyeol the same thing he would have to endure a lot of teasing before receiving a _no_. They continued in their conversation, Sehun suddenly being a lot nicer to the singer.

Later the train arrived to the station where they had to part their ways, Jongdae going to his vocal lessons and Sehun meeting with his friends Kai and Tao.

 

 

 

Jongdae unlocked the door, taking off his shoes and turning on the lights in the house. The empty house was silent so Jongdae turned on the TV. He walked to the kitchen to reheat some food from yesterday and then absentmindedly watched TV.

The house was old but beautiful. He inherited it after his dear grandmother who had died a few years ago. Actually, his parents inherited the house but neither of them were eager to live in – according to them– a small and boring town, they always preferred the big city. On the other side, Jongdae liked this town, he used to visit his grandma here often and so right after he graduated, he moved into the house.

It was big and spacious, that was a good thing because Jongdae never had to worry where to put all his things or where his friends would sleep when they stayed over. Really, he had two entirely empty bedrooms, but sometimes it felt all too big for just one person. That were the times when he felt lonelier and that were the times when he had to play loud music or TV just to feel a little bit less lonely in the big and silent house.

After finishing the meal Jongdae put the plate in a sink, deciding to wash it later and instead he seated himself on the couch again. Outside it was already dark but he didn’t feel tired yet, he was bored by the lame programs on TV, so he rather went to his bedroom to get a notebook and a pen.

Sehun asked him to write the lyrics as soon as possible. He didn’t say that it has to be done tomorrow, but better start sooner than later, right?

He started writing the first lines but as soon as he read them after himself, he crossed them with a frown on his face. He tried again and again, crossing every each of the lyrics he had written soon afterwards. What was he even thinking when he agreed to Sehun’s dumb idea? How can he write a love confession to someone he doesn’t love or actually hadn’t ever met before?

“Love, love…” he was muttering quietly to himself. “What is love?”

He would love to know the answer; he had never really thought about it that deeply.

Of course, he had experienced love before. His parents loved their younger son since the moment he had been born and despite all the arguments and rivalry his brother loved him as well. He had also experienced a friend love. He was always an outgoing person making friends easily and that meant that he always had a lot of friends around himself.

So yes, he knew love. He had been always loved by the people around him, but just never the way Sehun loved Luhan. He actually never had any long-term relationship and when he thought about it, he was never really in love with someone.

How was supposed to write love notes for someone then?

He couldn’t stop thinking about it through the whole night.

What does it mean to be in love with someone?

 

**~•••~**

 

Jongdae’s face lightened up as he noticed the young-looking man. He waved at the man to get his attention because he looked a bit confused not seeing Jongdae on his usual spot. Today Jongdae wasn’t performing, he just didn’t feel like it and having a break is always nice. Nonetheless the singer came to the plaza to meet Xiumin. He wasn’t entirely sure if Xiumin would come, but obviously, he came.

Minseok sat on the bench next to Jongdae, greeting him friendly. “You’re not singing today?” he asked curiously but with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

The singer shook his head. “No, I didn’t want to today. I thought that maybe today you could sing for me instead?” he said hopefully.

Minseok groaned. “Why?”

“You sound like I just asked you to dig a grave for the dead body I have. It’s just a song.” said sarcastically Jongdae.

“You have a dead body?” asked the baker with a serious tone.

Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Of course not.”

“Too bad, I would rather dig a grave than sing a song.”

The singer shook his head disbelievingly before his lips turned to a smirk. “I’ll remember that for a time when I’ll really need someone to help me hide a dead body.” There was a short pause before he continued. “But come on, I’ll buy you food.”

Minseok sighed dejected and nodded. “Okay, but I can choose whatever I want.”

“Sure.” Jongdae said while standing up and dragging the baker to the nearest restaurant. 

 

“You have a cheap taste, Chen.” stated Minseok eyeing the plate with food in front of Jongdae. For a moment the singer pretended to be mad but soon he gave up. He just didn’t have it in himself to be mad at Xiumin.

“You’re the one to say something.” he muttered instead.

 

 

 

As soon as Jongdae got back to his house, he went to search for his notebook with lyrics. He soon found it on the desk in his bedroom where he left it yesterday. Jongdae was never a messy person and so finding something in his house was quite easy.

He sat at the desk opening the notebook and turning the pages full of crossed lines from yesterday. When he finally got to an empty page, he grabbed a pen and started to write new lyrics. Unlike yesterday the words were leaving the tip of his pen easily. He wondered why it was so hard before.

 _Probably some sudden streak of inspiration,_ he thought happily.

The singer hadn’t even realized that the whole time he was thinking about a certain baker with a gummy smile.

 

**~•••~**

 

“Is it Somin?”

Minseok deadpanned, this was at least the twelfth person Luhan asked about today. “No, jeez. She’s like ten years younger than me, what do you think of me?”

Luhan shrugged. “It’s not ten years and I’ve already asked about literally every woman in our age who live in this town and you said no, so I’m starting to be a little bit desperate here.”

Minseok started to be really annoyed by his younger friend. “Can’t you stop it then?”

“If you just told me who it is, I would stop.” uttered Luhan.

The older one looked up from his work at him. “Okay, what about this?” Luhan looked at him expectantly waiting for him to continue. “You stop asking and I-“ he pointed at himself making a short pause just to annoy Luhan. “won’t tell you anything, because it’s none of your business.”

Luhan sent him an offended look. “Really funny, Min.”

 

Their bickering was soon interrupted by a loud ringing of a bell which announces a new customer in the bakery, they both walked out of the kitchen to welcome them. Behind the counter was standing a young woman with a light brown hair and nice smile.

“Hello, Wendy.” Minseok greeted their regular customer with a smile. “Like usual?” he asked already moving to the display to grab a Wendy’s favorite piece of pastry.

“No.” she absentmindedly shook her head while looking for something in her bag and Minseok stopped in front of the display. She then looked up at him realizing what she just said. “I-I mean yes, but that’s not the main reason why I’m here today.”

Luhan leaned on the counter looking at her curiously. “Then why are you here?”

She pulled a folded paper out of her bag, stretching her arm to Luhan. “Someone very kind and very handsome gave this to me this morning. He said that it’s for you and that he hopes you’ll like it as much as he likes you.” she explained. Luhan was looking at her dumbfounded, not taking the paper from her stretched hand. “What? It’s for me? But…”

“Yes, it’s for you.” she nodded. “Just take it.”

Luhan dumbly nodded and took the paper from her hand. Meanwhile Minseok got the pastry for her. “Have a nice day, guys. I have to go.” She walked out of the bakery with the sound of a ringing bell leaving a dumbfounded Luhan and a curious Minseok alone.

The younger baker hesitantly unfolded the paper reading the neatly written note. Minseok saw how the frown appeared on the younger’s face. “What’s written there?” he asked, failing to hide his curiosity.

Luhan looked up from the paper to his best friend; he shook his head lightly and crumpled the paper in his hands. “Nothing important.” he said casually before throwing the paper into a trash can. Minseok looked at the other baker confused. _What was that?_ he asked himself silently. He wanted to ask Luhan about it but the baker looked like he doesn’t want to talk about it and so Minseok rather stayed quiet continuing with his work.

 

 

 

Today Minseok decided to stay at the bakery a little bit longer than usual. Luhan already left home and he was cleaning the last dirty part of a kitchen. He was always a neat and organized type of person but when he noticed the time, he decided to finally leave the bakery. He made sure that everything is turned off and then he left the kitchen turning the lights off as well. He walked around the counter to the main door of _Exodus_ and just when he was about to leave his eyes felt on the trash can standing by the counter.

Minseok hesitated; he was staring at the trash can.

Should he read the note Luhan received earlier or should he just leave it?

After a while of thinking if he should or shouldn’t do it, he finally moved closer to the trash can. He took the crumpled paper out it. _Just a quick look won’t hurt anyone, right?_ he thought while straightening the paper. His eyes quickly read the neatly written words on the paper.

_On a day that I wore nice clothes_

_I met you like that, I was lucky_

_It’s because I did good in the[past](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcfunXTt6yA)_

He was looking at the words with a fond smile on his face. So, it was a note from Luhan’s admirer as he thought earlier. He was kind of envious of his best friend; it would be nice if someone made that much effort and wrote something for him, too. But that’s also why Luhan’s earlier behavior was so confusing.

Why would he just throw the paper away like it was a piece of trash?

Minseok carefully folded the paper and put it into his pocket. _Luhan threw it away, he surely won’t miss it,_ he thought to himself while leaving the bakery. He locked the door of the bakery before walking home.

 

**~•••~**

 

Today was really hot outside, the sun was mercilessly shining and not even the shadows provided by the trees in the plaza were enough. That’s why today Jongdae left his guitar home and decided to visit the art shop instead of performing.

Sehun was standing by the counter and welcomed him sincerely with an honest smile and not with a fake one which he used for most of the customers. Jongdae walked through the shop taking everything he needed before coming back to the counter. He put some notebooks with pens and a few other things on the counter in front of Sehun.

“So…” Sehun started slowly, looking up from the things on the counter to his hyung. “Have you already started with the writing?”

That was also one of the reasons why Jongdae came today. “Yeah, I’ve already started. Luhan received the first one yesterday.”

Sehun was looking at him expectantly now. “And?”

“And what?” Jongdae didn’t understand.

“What did he say?” specified Sehun impatiently before focusing on his work. He motioned Jongdae to pay and the singer gave him money while shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” asked Sehun giving Jongdae a bag with the supplies he bought. Jongdae took it but made no attempt on leaving the shop.

“I haven’t given it to him personally.” the singer explained.

Sehun looked at him scandalized. “What? Why not? How should I know what he thinks of it?”

“Maybe try asking him.” Jongdae suggested sarcastically, receiving Sehun’s annoyed look soon afterwards. “If stranger came and all of sudden gave him a love note, it would be weird and I really don’t want to anyone think that I like him. You’re the one who’s so whipped for Luhan.”

Sehun opened his mouth, ready to give Jongdae some sassy reply but they both were startled by a curious voice. “What is with Luhan?”

The younger just moved his head slightly whilst Jongdae had to turn around to see the person who had spoken. A relieved sigh left Jongdae’s cat-like lips. “Don’t scare us like that, hyung. I nearly had a heart attack.”

Minseok smiled at them amused. “So, what is it with Luhan?” he asked again. “I hope you’re not saying anything bad about him.” he said brightly but with a faint threat in his voice. Luhan was his best friend and although he was sometimes really annoying, nobody has a right to say rude things about him, or at least not when Minseok is near.

Jongdae opened his mouth to explain it to the oldest, but he was quickly stopped by Sehun’s hand covering his mouth. The youngest laughed awkwardly. “N-nothing. We said nothing bad about him.” he said quickly, his face red.

Minseok was looking at them uncertainly before slowly nodding with his head. “Okay.”

After that there was heard a mumbling from Jongdae but it couldn’t be understood because of Sehun’s hand which was still covering his mouth. Sehun drew his hand back looking at Jongdae with an apologizing look. “Sorry. What have you said?”

“I asked if you could put your hand away from my mouth.” said Jongdae grumpily.

Minseok’s gummy smiled turned into a laugh, his friends were surely entertaining to watch.

Jongdae’s heart started to beat a little bit faster as he heard Xiumin’s sweet laugh. He moved his eyes from Sehun to look at him, but when their eyes met, he realized that Xiumin was already looking at him. Jongdae had wanted to say something to him but the words died in his throat as he was looking into the older one’s eyes. He couldn’t help it but to notice how charming Xiumin is.

He even wore round black glasses today and the singer’s heart just started to do flips because of that sight. For a moment Jongdae let himself stare at the baker before he was brought back to reality because of Sehun’s subtle nudging. He quickly realized that they’re not in the shop alone.

“Stop staring at Minseok hyung.” Sehun whispered to him.

Embarrassed, Jongdae looked down but his head quickly lifted again as soon as he fully realized what Sehun just said. _Minseok,_ he thought. _Is that…?_ He happily smiled to himself, now he finally knew the name of his crush.

 

**~•••~**

 

Minseok unlocked the door of their bakery and let Luhan in. He left it unlocked but the sign was clearly showing people that the bakery is still closed. The bakers changed at the back before they got to today’s work, preparing everything before the first customers will come. Later when they were done, Luhan flipped the sign.

It was an ordinary and rather boring day for both of them. People were coming in and they were selling them their food, people were coming in and they were baking. So yes, it was an ordinary day but just until Wendy came.

Minseok was in the kitchen and so Luhan welcomed her instead. They had a nice small talk while Luhan was getting her usual order, he wasn’t thinking about her usual visit much, at least not until she pulled a paper out of her bag and gave it to the surprised Luhan.

“He says hi.” she said and then left the shop with quick wink sent towards Luhan. Minseok was about to leave the kitchen but he stopped in the middle of the door frame. He watched his best friend silently.

Luhan was staring at the paper with a strange look in his eyes; it was something like a mix of longing and pity. The baker then unfolded the paper and scanned it with his eyes. When he was done, he crumpled it in his hands and threw it into the trash can.

It looked all too similar to the scene which happened a few days ago. Minseok frowned with confusion; he didn’t get his friend at all. It’s not the first admirer Luhan had. Back during their college years before they decided to open _Exodus_ a lot of the students were astonished by Luhan’s features and character but every time Luhan was nice to them trying to reject them gently and accepting every single love letter they had written to him. That’s why Minseok was so confused by his current behavior.

In a short moment when Luhan turned away, Minseok snatched the crumpled paper from the trash can and quickly returned to the kitchen where he read the neatly written words on the paper.

_My heart melts at your smile_

_When our eyes meet_

_My heart pounds_

_You’re[beautiful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMWXVc3WAYs)_

It was a same handwriting as the one from the previous note, so it certainly must be a same person. _Who is he?_ Minseok wondered while putting the note into his pocket.

 

**~•••~**

 

Junmyeon caught himself staring at the mural again. It was months since Chanyeol had left and on that same day also one of the angels had disappeared. Junmyeon couldn’t find any reasonable explanation. The wall wasn’t re-colored, he had examined it many times; it was like the angel was never painted there. Who would even ruin one of the angels in the first place? It didn’t make any sense.

Junmyeon had even told about it Chanyeol and asked him if he has any idea what happened. He however didn’t get anything but few non-committal answers and a plea to take care of the other angel from Chanyeol. And even if it sounded ridiculous that was exactly what Junmyeon did, every day even if he wasn’t working, he came to make sure that the angel on the left side hadn’t disappeared. Nonetheless the angel was still there with his pitch-black hair, long white robes and gloomy expression on face. The owner sometimes wondered why Chanyeol painted the angel with such a sad expression.

“Junmyeon?” The owner turned his head to look at the person who dragged him out of his thoughts. Next to him was standing Luhan, his light hair still had a faint trace of a pink color and because of the warm weather he was wearing simple thin clothes. “Is Sehun still here?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s inside.” Junmyeon motioned with his head to the direction of the art shop. “What do you need?” He didn’t want to be nosy; he just wanted to know if he can help.

“Nothing.” Luhan shook his head. “We were just supposed to meet here.”

“Okay. He should be already leaving. I’ll go check on him.” said Junmyeon while walking back inside the shop. He went to the back where he found Sehun. “Your beloved one is waiting for you outside.” he remarked with a chuckle.

Sehun sent him a murderous look but he soon stormed out of the stop not wanting to let Luhan wait for too long. He heard Junmyeon’s laugh behind himself but he didn’t mind it and instead smiled at Luhan.

Because their apartments were situated in the same part of town, every time Sehun had afternoon shift they walked home together. It was a blessing to have some time alone just with the older one, or so Sehun thought. They talked about many different things, their hands brushing from time to time because of the close distance they were walking in.

“By the way, do you know any single woman in this town? I think I’ve already run out of the options.” Luhan said casually, but Sehun suddenly felt a pang inside his chest.

“W-why are you asking?” he stuttered a little but Luhan didn’t seem to notice it. He started telling him about Minseok and his foolish smiling which he was sure was caused by some lovely woman. He also told Sehun how his friend wasn’t keen on sharing who the woman is and after he finished Sehun asked just a one question. He actually had a good tip who the mysterious person is. “Why do you think it’s a woman?”

Luhan halted for a second as the realization hit him. “Uhm I…I don’t know.” He turned to Sehun who was walking next to him and grabbed his arm, laughing lightly. “You’re so smart, Sehunie.”

The dancer tried to keep his composed face, nevertheless his cheeks turned pink.

 

**~•••~**

 

Jongdae was standing in front of a bakery; he read _Exodus_ at the sign above the door before he opened it and walked inside.

Minseok had invited him to his and Luhan’s bakery many times, but Jongdae hadn’t visited it yet. Of course, he was curious about the bakery and its food but because he always got the food personally from Minseok he never felt an urge to actually go there.

However today he was stressed, he was struggling with writing new notes for Luhan and yesterday he met a very rude student on his vocal lesson and because Minseok hadn’t show up in the plaza he decided to visit him instead.

Jongdae smiled at Minseok who was standing behind the counter. The baker looked surprised seeing him here but he quickly turned his lips into a smile. Jongdae moved further to the shop scanning the display with desserts. After a short while he looked up to Minseok, ready to order just to see another man approaching the baker. _That must be Luhan,_ thought Jongdae. He looked at him curiously comparing the image he created from Minseok and Sehun’s description with the real Luhan. He now knew why Sehun was so head over heels with the man, he was truly beautiful.

Luhan leaned closer to Minseok whispering something into his ear. Jongdae wanted to know what he had said really badly because immediately after Luhan’s words Minseok’s smile faltered and his whole expression changed. He sent a murderous glance towards Luhan and shook his head before whispering something back.

The singer moved closer to the two men. Both grew silent when they noticed him, Minseok was looking at him with slightly panicked eyes and on the other side Luhan had a knowing smirk plastered on his face. “So, this is your mysterious boyfriend.” he said loudly with a teasing tone.

Jongdae wasn’t usually easily embarrassed, but he certainly was now. He inhaled and was just about to deny it but Minseok was faster. “He’s not! What are you even talking about? He’s a complete stranger. I don’t even know his name!”

It was true; nonetheless the words still hurt Jongdae. He hoped that after the time they knew each other, Minseok considered him at least as a friend. That would be enough from his crush, just being friends but hearing now that they’re just strangers, it hurt Jongdae.

He usually easily expressed himself, not trying to hide his emotions and so everybody could clearly hear the anger in his voice. “You could have said that earlier, Minseok. We shouldn’t hang out if you think we’re just mere strangers.” After that he left the bakery, he wanted to slam the door angrily but he decided not to make other customers more uncomfortable. Just before he was completely gone, he heard Minseok’s shouting, pleading him to stop, nonetheless he continued walking.

 

 

 

_It’s a bit funny to me, although you’re everything_

_To me, sometimes I am no stranger_

_Actually I want to rub my hair_

_And be hugged in your[arms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqaSboKBIuA)_

Minseok sighed heavily. He thought that today’s love note for Luhan could cheer him up, but this was the first one which was rather sad and it matched his mood perfectly. It almost felt like it was written for him, but that was most likely just his wishful thinking.

Over the last weeks he started to love the notes which were sent to Luhan daily. Every each of them Luhan threw away and every each of them Minseok took and kept to himself. Too bad none of them was actually written for him but for his best friend.

He took a bite of _dan tat_ and put the note in his pocket. He was still in the bakery thinking about what had happened. He hadn’t wanted to upset Chen like that, but when Luhan asked him if he’s the one who makes him smile like fool so often and then later teased him in front of his crush, he panicked. He didn’t want Luhan to know about his crush on the charming singer, because his friend had a bad habit of interfering in his relationships and it usually didn’t end up well. Luhan always insisted that it wasn’t his fault and that his exes were dumb anyway.

Minseok laid his head on the kitchen counter staring at the plain white wall. _What should I do now?_ he asked himself. He knew that he had to make it right and apologize to Chen, but how? He felt that a plain sorry wouldn’t be enough, he needed to do more.

 

He abruptly lifted his head when an idea hit him; he quickly grabbed his things and turned off the lights in the whole bakery. He locked the main door and ran up the street to the art shop praying that Sehun is still there.

When he got closer he saw a person locking the door of the art shop. “Wait!” he shouted and the person stopped and turned to him, he recognized Junmyeon. “Is Sehun still here?” Minseok asked hopefully even though he already suspected that the answer will be no.

Junmyeon shook his head. “He left with Luhan earlier. What do you need from him, hyung?”

Minseok sighed running his hand through hair. “I needed to ask him something.” he said looking down defeated, but then he looked up at Junmyeon again. “But maybe…do you perhaps know where Chen lives?”

Minseok’s hopes were quickly ruined, when the owner looked at him in utter confusion. “Chen? No, I really don’t know where he lives. I’ve actually never heard that name. Who is he?”

“He’s a singer; he often performs at the plaza. He has a light brown almost blond hair, dark eyes and sharp cheek bones. But I like his lips the most, the corners are always turned up even when he’s not smiling.” Minseok said a little bit dreamily at the end.

Junmyeon was looking at him amused and with a small smile on his lips. “You mean Jongdae, right?”

“Uhm…yeah. I guess that’s him.” The baker answered uncertainly, he didn’t know who Jongdae is after all.

“Come with me.” Junmyeon motioned to Minseok with his hand to follow him. “I’ll show you his house.”

 

 

Jongdae was lying in a bed trying to fall asleep, but to no success. He opened his eyes staring at the ceiling for a while before turning to the left, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep again. After a while – it honestly felt like an eternity to Jongdae but in reality, it was just a few minutes – he heard a strange noise coming from a window. He wasn’t scared or anything, he didn’t believe in ghosts or any other supernatural creatures but he was truly annoyed. Can’t he just sleep in peace?

When the noises didn’t cease but intensified, he finally got up from the bed and walked to the window. He opened it and the warm summer air kissed his bare skin. He looked down just to see a person standing in the middle of his garden. He soon recognized Minseok in that person, the baker had one hand full of small stones and the other hand was ready to throw another stone at his window. He however dropped it when he saw Jongdae opening the window.

“What the hell are you doing here this late, Minseok? It’s already dark!” the singer asked bewildered, half whispering and half shouting.

“I’ve come to sing you a song.” said Minseok nonchalantly and threw away the small stones which he wouldn’t need anymore. He cleared his throat getting ready to sing but before he could do it, he was interrupted by Jongdae.

“Are you drunk, hyung?” he asked.

Minseok looked at him surprised. “Of course not.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’m apologizing for being an idiot.” Minseok explained.

Jongdae shook his head, but a small smile appeared on his cat-like lips and Minseok took that as a good sign. He inhaled and started to sing a calm song. The beginning was hesitant but he quickly gained a confidence. It sometimes sounded little bit off because of the lack of any background music but neither of them minded.

_It’s still the same day_

_The lazy clock is getting even slower_

_Can’t see the end to my work_

_Keeps building up like fatigue_

_My footsteps on my way back home is so slow_

_I’m placing my body in the rattling wave_

_The moment I closed my eyes_

_I saw you[again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjpzf5kuLF0)_

Minseok continued singing and Jongdae was watching him from his window. He couldn’t believe that the baker came late in the night to his home throwing stones on his bedroom window like they were some teenagers. He couldn’t stop his smile from spreading wider and wider, though.

The song ended too quickly and there was a short silence before Minseok spoke in a sincere tone. “I’m really sorry, Jongdae. I didn’t mean what I’ve said earlier and I know that I shouldn’t have said it at all. You are no stranger to me, Jongdae. You are much more than that and I care about you a lot.”

For a moment Jongdae was in a loss of words, he didn’t expect Minseok to be so honest.

“Are you sure you’re not drunk?” he asked once again.

“I’m not, I swear.” The older one laughed. “Am I forgiven now?” he added in a quieter unsure voice.

“Yes, you are.” said Jongdae. “And just so you know, I care about you a lot, too.”

 _I like you a lot,_ he almost added in the spur of the moment, but stopped himself in time. He didn’t know when or how Minseok changed from a tiny crush to a love. But the way his heart hurt when Minseok said that they’re just strangers and the way how it wanted to burst right now, he knew that Minseok is more than an ordinary crush.

With the wide smile still on his face Jongdae walked out of his bedroom and run down the stairs. He went straight to the garden to Minseok. He pulled him in a tight hug and went even as far as for kissing his cheek lightly. Minseok didn’t seem to mind it; on the contrary it brought a gummy smile on his lips.

They sat to the grass, Jongdae in his pajamas and they enjoyed the warm summer night. Neither of them talked a lot and later instead of sitting they just laid themselves side to side and watched the brightly shining stars. From time to time they stole subtle glances at each other, hoping the other won’t notice.

 

**~•••~**

 

“That’s it guys!” Jongdae stated suddenly and loudly in the quiet house, startling both Junmyeon and Sehun. The youngest one almost dropped his phone into the meal in front of him. “I have to tell you something.”

It was Saturday evening and instead of going somewhere out like usually, they decided to stay at Jongdae’s house. He was always glad having his friends here and not being alone in the big house. Although Jongdae could be very loud and annoying – he kind of resembled Chanyeol in this particular aspect – Junmyeon could never say no to his invitation and Sehun of course had to come, too. Ever since the dispute with his parents he craved his hyungs attention and company; nonetheless he would never admit it to them.

“I hope it’s something important.” said Sehun with a bored tone before he moved his eyes back to the mobile screen.

“It is.” Jongdae defended himself in a quieter voice, he paused staring down on his meal and both his friends started to look impatient.

“Don’t worry. Just tell us what you want to say.” said Junmyeon in his caring motherly voice. Others sometimes liked to joke that Junmyeon is almost like their mother. It was mostly because of how he took care of them, seemed to take lead when it was needed and gave the best advises but also because of his terrible dad jokes.

“Okay, so… I-I have a crush.” said Jongdae expecting gasps or fainting or anything, but when he looked at Junmyeon and Sehun, neither of them looked even a bit surprised, but Sehun at least put his phone away. “It’s Minseok.” he added, but not even after that he received any kind of surprised reaction. Both his friends were just looking at him like they were waiting for him to say something more.

After a while when nobody said anything, Sehun spoke. “Don’t look at us like that, hyung. We already know this.”

“You do?” asked Jongdae.

“It’s kind of obvious.” said Junmyeon with a small smile remembering the conversation he had with Minseok when he directed him to Jongdae’s house. It’s mutual, he was sure now.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” replied Sehun.

Jongdae looked at them surprised. _Is it really that obvious?_ he wondered. His friends had noticed, so it probably was. He shook his head upon the useless thoughts before he spoke again. “Okay, so when you already know this, the important thing is that I want to confess.”

Suddenly his friends looked very interested. “Do you really mean it?” Junmyeon wanted to know.

A genuine smile appeared on Jongdae’s face as he thought about the baker with a gummy smile. “Yeah, I do.” he said.

They dropped the topic then, eating the dinner which was almost cold after their talk. Later they moved to the living room watching a movie which despite their anticipation none of them liked it, so after a whole half of the movie they gave up and decided to call Chanyeol instead.

Their friend was fortunately still awake; he however told them not to speak too loud. Sometime later after a lot of teasing and even more questions, they finally got from Chanyeol that he might not be alone and that the other person might be asleep. A chaos broke out after that, all of them talked in once wanting to know more.

 _“Be quiet, dumbasses. You’ll wake up Baekhyunie.”_ sounded from the phone and the trio became even louder demanding more information from Chanyeol.

 

In the end Junmyeon and Sehun stayed over for the night, sleeping in the empty bedrooms which by this time practically belonged to them.

 

Since that evening Jongdae couldn’t stop thinking about how he should confess. He puzzled over it for a long time, but honestly he didn’t have many ideas. And so, even if it was ordinary and not original at all, at the end he decided to just tell it to Minseok without any surprise or big romantic gesture, just a simple confession.

After that however came the harder part, he needed to gather courage to actually do it. He had practiced it over and over again, trying to come with the most suitable words. He made several attempts, but all of them failed miserably. Every time he had the words on his tongue ready to confess but at the moment he actually saw Minseok all the words died in his throat.

Minseok was so breathtaking and Jongdae just cowered, enjoying being with Minseok instead and not trying to push his luck.

 

 

 

Luhan groaned annoyingly. “Another one. Why can’t he stop? He’s just wasting his time!” he complained. Minseok silently listened to Luhan’s complaining, but he didn’t understand his friend at all. Whilst Luhan was throwing the love notes away, Minseok was impatiently expecting them every day. He couldn’t wait to know what the mysterious man will write next day and next day and a day after. Somehow it always made his mood a little bit better, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. Most of the time he decided to overlook the fact that they’re not written for him but for Luhan, he let himself dream about being a center of attention of such a sweet person.

“Just give it to me, Lu.” Minseok stretched his arm out to Luhan. “I’ll throw it away.”

Luhan nodded putting the paper in Minseok’s hand and angrily muttering to himself. However instead of throwing it away Minseok put the note in his pocket and later when Luhan left home and he was alone he read through the lines written on the paper.

_Every day, I practiced_

_All the sweet words_

_But when you look at me and smile_

_They all melt down, out of my[memory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn4IL7HMDlw)_

 

**_~•••~_ **

 

Sehun carefully laid a bucket of flowers on the table. He was at the back of the art shop getting ready to leave after his afternoon shift ended. Well, actually he had asked Junmyeon if he could finish earlier and make a quick visit to a nearby flower shop.

He went back to the counter, nervously waiting for Luhan. After those few weeks, it finally came. Earlier this day when he had met Jongdae on the train station the older had told him that today Luhan will receive the last note with his confession and that meant that it was time for Sehun to finally reveal to Luhan that he’s in love with him. He was nervous, his hands trembling and his frantically beating heart expecting the moment when Luhan will arrive to the art shop. Sehun hoped that Luhan liked the love notes and that all of this will end up with having Luhan in his arms and kissing his pink lips.

The time was passing quickly and the moment Sehun was expecting finally came. Luhan burst into the shop, Sehun wanted to greet him happily but before he could do that Luhan’s irritated groaning filled the shop. “Why does it have to be me?” he said getting a confused look from Sehun.

“What is wrong?” the younger asked concerned about Luhan.

“Nothing, Sehun-ah. Just-“ he ran hand through his hair. “Recently I’ve been receiving these weird love notes. Wendy comes every day to give them to me and…” Sehun was so tense now, attentively listening to Luhan and leaning closer to him over the counter. He was expecting Luhan’s next words. “I hate it so much, Sehun. I know the person is just trying to be sweet and romantic and all, but why it has to be me? Today I received a note which read _I love you_ at the end, but I don’t-” he looked up to Sehun’s eyes. “I don’t love this person and I can’t ever love this person. I just want them to stop sending these notes, because it’s just a waste of their time.”

Sehun’s breath hitched and his heart started to beat ten times faster, but not because of the reasons he hoped. He cleared his throat awkwardly averting his eyes from the smaller man standing in front of him. “T-that sucks, hyung.” he forced himself to say hoping that Luhan won’t notice his stuttering.

“Yeah, I’m glad you understand. Anyway, we should go; we can talk during a walk.”

Luhan smiled a little as Sehun nodded and went to the back to get his things. He looked at the bucket of flowers lying on the table next to his bag. He pursed his lips into a thin line and shook his head to himself before putting on his poker face. He grabbed his bag and the bucket of flowers, and turned to walk back to the front of the shop where Luhan was waiting. Before he left the room, he threw the bucket of flowers into a trash can standing next to a door.

 _It’s useless now,_ Sehun thought. _He doesn’t love me anyway._

He walked out of the back and continued walking with Luhan to his apartment smiling forcefully through the entire walk and letting himself broke down immediately after entering his apartment. He ended up sobbing into his phone to Junmyeon, revealing everything about Luhan and the notes to him.

 

 

 

Jongdae was performing at his usual spot in the plaza. People were passing him, some of them not acknowledging him at all and some stopping for a moment to listen to his singing. But he was waiting for one particular person who still hasn’t arrived. Today was the day. Jongdae was ready to confess, no more cowering. He had already written the confession from Sehun to Luhan and now it was time for his own. Because he realized that he won’t be ever able express himself with just words he decided to express himself the best way he knew. By singing.

 _Best luck_ was a song he had written some time ago. At that time, he hadn’t thought about the lyrics much but now he thought that they were exactly fitting his situation. Like his past self knew this time will come.

Jongdae took a break, thanking everybody who stopped to listen or left some money in his guitar case. He was waiting for the baker, impatiently tapping his fingers on his guitar. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait for a long time, Minseok soon appeared on the busy plaza walking straight to his spot. Even today he looked splendid with his pitch-black hair and round glasses. When he got close enough Jongdae found his dark eyes looking straight into them. His voice echoed through the plaza reaching even the ears of the baker.

_I waited for today, for your sweetness_

_Look at me,_

_I’ll protect you babe_

Minseok was looking back at him; Jongdae couldn’t tell what he’s thinking. Whether he liked it or was waiting for Jongdae to stop to break his poor heart, he sincerely hoped it was the first option. He continued singing the sweet lyrics of the song which was once a bit sapless to him but is all too important right now.

_My love, I miss you_

_It’s destiny, you can’t avoid it_

_Every day I’m so lucky_

_I want to confess my hidden heart,_

_I love[you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7p9v-xtm4)_

As the song continued Minseok’s expression became more and more readable. Shocks flashed through his widen eyes and his mouth slightly opened in awe. Jongdae wasn’t sure if it’s a good or bad sign, he just continued singing even at the moment Minseok’s eyes left his. The baker pulled a small paper out of pocket and read the lines written on it once again. So, it was true. He wasn’t imagining it. The lines on the paper were same as the ones Jongdae was singing right now.

He couldn’t believe it. So, the whole time it was him, the whole time it was Jongdae. He was the mysterious man writing the sweet notes to Luhan, confessing his love to him. Never before was Minseok so devastated by the fact that the notes weren’t written for him but for his best friend. But at same time he couldn’t stop himself just to fall deeper in love with the singer because of all the beautifully written notes which were safely kept in a top drawer of his desk.

Minseok couldn’t listen to the song anymore; he dropped the last love note on a ground and turned around leaving the plaza with the singer behind.

Jongdae’s singing ceased as he watched Minseok leaving. There it was, he never thought that he’ll be rejected in such a harsh way, but it was the reality. He put his guitar aside and moved forward to grab the paper Minseok dropped. The words looked oddly familiar at the first look and as soon as started to read them he knew why. It was his handwriting, it were his words.

_You are my luck_

_I can’t avoid it_

_Every day I’m so lucky_

_I want to confess my hidden heart_

_I love[you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7p9v-xtm4)_

That night when he came back to his house, he ended up calling Junmyeon explaining everything about the notes and Minseok, then he let himself be lulled by Junmyeon’s calming voice. After all he was right at the beginning; people got hurt by Sehun’s dumb idea and his equally dumb agreement to it.

 

**~•••~**

 

Junmyeon couldn’t believe how dumb his friends were. Yesterday he got two calls, one from Sehun and one from Jongdae. He soon understood what happened and he also soon realized that he has to do something about it or else his friends will continue being miserable and annoy him with other calls.

His plan was rather simple:

**Step one – make Jongdae and Minseok talk to each other**

Junmyeon was walking to Jongdae’s house. It was still quite early in the morning, but he thought that his friend would be up already.  He was passing other houses; most of them were occupied by families with children. Sometimes this part of the town felt like the cliché neighborhood from movies, with laughing children, green trees and barking dogs.

He got in front of his friend’s house and walked inside, taking off his shoes and calling Jongdae to come down. Jongdae had given him keys some time ago. “In a case of emergency.” Jongdae had told him at that time and Junmyeon thought that this certainly was an emergency.

After a while Jongdae walked down the stairs. It looked like he just woke up, he was in his pajamas and his hair was messy sticking out in all possible directions. “What is going on?” he asked confused.

“Go change and please do something with your hair, you have an important meeting.” said the owner of the art shop.

“What-” Jongdae wanted to ask but he was interrupted when Junmyeon pushed him to the stairs.

“Go. I won’t wait here for you the whole morning.”

 

Junmyeon was practically dragging Jongdae through the town, the singer was whining the whole time and it was really starting to be difficult for Junmyeon to ignore him. Fortunately, they reached the art shop soon. This was their destination, or so Jongdae thought. But Junmyeon continued walking down the street dragging Jongdae along.

“Really, Junmyeon. What is happening? Why aren’t you telling me anything?” Jongdae whined again.

“Shhh, we’re almost there.” Junmyeon replied just when then stopped in front of _Exodus._ Jongdae’s eyes widened. “What- “he wanted to ask but he was once again interrupted by the older.

“Let’s go.”

He pulled him into the bakery, making the bell behind the door ring which almost immediately brought the attention of two bakers standing behind the counter. It was still early, so the bakery was empty nonetheless Junmyeon turned and flipped the sign on door to _closed._ He pushed Jongdae further inside the shop and Minseok was just about to ask what is going on when Junmyeon spoke.

“You two- “he motioned at the awkwardly standing Jongdae and bewildered Minseok. “talk and you“ he pointed at Luhan. “come with me.”

When Luhan made no attempt to move, Junmyeon went behind the counter and grabbed his wrist taking him out of the shop. When the door behind Junmyeon and Luhan closed, Minseok and Jongdae were suddenly left alone in the bakery. There was a while of awkward silence before the baker walked from behind the counter to one of the tables and sat down. He motioned to Jongdae to sit down, too. “I guess Junmyeon is right, we should talk.” he sighed.

“Okay.” said Jongdae, while moving to the table and sitting down on the chair opposite Minseok. Jongdae didn’t waste any time and went straight to the point. “Why did you leave yesterday? Why did you have to reject me in such a harsh way? I could have taken it if you just told me.”

Until then the older was staring down at his hands, now he was looking at the man sitting in front of him. “What do you mean?”

Jongdae averted his eyes; he was scanning the surroundings instead. “I get it, okay? You are not in love with me, but that’s fine…I can get over it and we can still be friends-“ he started blabbering but Minseok wasn’t listening anymore anyway.

 _You are not in love with me…_ the words kept repeating in his head until he fully realized what they mean. “But I am.” Minseok didn’t realize that he said it aloud until he heard Jongdae’s confused “What?”

“I am in love with you. But you- “ he pointed at Jongdae and then back at himself. “You are not in love with me.”

Jongdae’s jaw slightly dropped, he was staring at the baker silently before he gained his conscious again. “Wait, what?” that was all he could say, not being able to process what was happening.

“I know about all the love notes you’ve been sending to Luhan and I don’t want to be cruel and break your heart, but I think he doesn’t love you. He actually hates the notes, he throws them away.” Minseok explained quietly.

Jongdae groaned loudly and laid his head on the table with a loud thud. “Sehun is going to kill me.” he whined loudly. Now it was Minseok’s turn to be confused, he wanted to ask Jongdae what he meant but the singer was faster. He lifted his head and looked at Minseok. “I’ll explain. A few weeks ago, Sehun asked me if I could write some love notes to Luhan. He has liked him for quite a long time now and I agreed to do it. What a bad decision, to be honest. So yeah, long story short I’m not in love with Luhan but you.”

“For real?” Minseok asked uncertainly.

“For real.” Jongdae assured him.

Minseok nodded a small smile appearing on his face. “So…I’m in love with you and you’re in love with me. What are we gonna do now then?”

Jongdae smiled as well, hearing Minseok’s relaxed tone. “I dunno, maybe you could kiss me?”

“Maybe I can.” said Minseok as he leant closer to him over the table. Jongdae leant closer as well connecting their lips in a chaste kiss and putting his hand on Minseok’s neck to bring him closer. It was a long time since Jongdae kissed someone, but he was sure that none of his previous kisses were that good.

 

**Step two – make Sehun and Luhan talk to each other**

Luhan let himself to be dragged further from the bakery. He gave up trying to understand what was happening, besides he knew that if Junmyeon doesn’t want to, he won’t tell him anything. It didn’t last long and he got answer to at least one of his questions when they stopped in front of _Kasten Farben._

They walked inside and Luhan spotted the tall and handsome man behind the counter. Sehun looked startled and a little bit of scared seeing him here.

“Hello, Sehun. How are you today?” Luhan asked cheerfully.

Sehun bent his head down. “I-I’m fine.” he mumbled.

Junmyeon sighed and rubbed his forehead as he watched the two men in front of him. “I’ll get a headache from you two.”

“Why? What have we done?” Luhan asked slightly offended.

Junmyeon sent a pointed look towards Sehun. “Just talk please.” He said before leaving the art shop with the sound of closing door.

Luhan turned back to Sehun shaking his head lightly. “What’s with him? He’s acting really strange today, isn't he?” Luhan was smiling as he said it but when he saw Sehun’s down casted face his smile faltered. “What is wrong, Sehunie? Why do you look so heartbroken?”

“Uhm…” Sehun started but he was quickly interrupted by Luhan’s sudden gasp. “Did somebody really break your heart? Tell me who it is, so I can beat them up!” he stated fiercely. That made the corners of Sehun’s lips turn up, because no matter how hard Luhan tried to look intimidating he always ended up looking rather cute. However soon Sehun’s face changed to dejected again. “I really appreciate that, hyung but I don’t want you to beat them up, because I truly like them.”

“No, no, no.” Luhan moved closer grabbing Sehun’s shoulders. “They broke the heart of my most favorite dongsaeng, it’s my duty to beat them up. So, tell me who they are.”

Sehun sighed, looking at the baker with a distant look in his eyes. “Do you really want to know who it is?” he asked quietly. Luhan nodded eagerly and so Sehun spoke. “It is you.”

A lot of mixed expressions showed on Luhan’s face starting with shock and ending with confusion. His hands dropped from Sehun’s shoulders and now they were loosely lying on the counter. “What…what do you mean?”

Sehun grabbed one of Luhan hands and started to explain while looking at their hands on the counter. “Once you had told me that you love songs with meaningful lyrics and it didn’t take long for me to come up with an idea to write some for you. So since then I’ve been writing you notes every day, yesterday I sent the last one. I wanted to finally confess yesterday, to tell you how much I’m in love with you, but then you said that you could never love the person who is sending them…”

Sehun was expecting many different kinds of reactions from Luhan, but this was not one of them. Luhan pulled out his hand out of Sehun’s grip and started to smack him with it. “You. Are. Such. A. Dumb. Liar. I can’t believe you, Oh Sehun!”

“Auch! Stop hitting me, hyung. I’m a heartbroken man.” whined Sehun and Luhan finally stopped. “What was that for?” asked Sehun while pretending dramatically the unbearable pain.

“Let me tell you a story, Sehun-ah.” Luhan started, completely calm now. “Once upon a time I’ve received a note from a mysterious stranger. As I read the words written on it, I’ve realized that it’s a love note. I started to pity this mysterious person, because it doesn’t matter what would they write, I wouldn’t love them anyway. Now you might ask me, why? The answer is simple; I’m already in love with someone else and I know that they’re not the same person, because the person I like can’t write to save a life.”

A silence followed Luhan’s words and after a while when Sehun was sure that Luhan won’t say anything else he spoke. “So…the person you’re in love-“

“It’s you, you dummy.” said Luhan and flickered Sehun on forehead. “I knew that you’re not the one who was writing the notes since your writing is not that good, so who was it?”

The dancer looked down in a shame. “It was Jongdae hyung.”

“I could have known that.” Luhan sighed. “You could just ask me out, you know. All of this drama was completely unnecessary.”

Sehun nervously scratched his neck. “Will you go out with me then?” he asked with a hopeful voice.

Luhan sighed once again and shook his head upon his silly dongsaeng. “Of course, you dummy.”

 

**Step three – scold them for being dumb (but after making sure that they’re happily together)**

At the end Junmyeon didn’t have the heart to scold his friends. He couldn’t watch how disgustingly in love they were. Sometimes he felt like a fifth wheel, but he supposed it was his own fault for getting them together.

He was standing in front of his art shop now, looking up at the mural of the angel. Over the time, he realized, he became quite fond of the lonely angel with a pitch-black hair and gloomy expression.

“Now it’s just you and me, isn’t it?” he asked the angel and chuckled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading~  
> Let me know what you think about the story, I appreciate every kudos and comment.  
> Have a nice day. ^.^


End file.
